Point of No Return
by Johnson818
Summary: Will the orphans survive The Great Unknown or will they be swallowed up by the darkness that follows them. Written from Quigley Quagmire's perspective after The End.
1. Under a Moonlit Sky

Chapter 1: Under a Moonlit Sky

The last thing I could remember was the inside of a department store. I was there with Kit Snicket, a family friend of ours who was trying her best to take care of me during these difficult times. She was distraught, and pregnant, but still she was working her heart out for VFD. I remember running their mysterious errands with her, waking up in the middle of the night and disguising ourselves before heading out to spy on people, or do research. The assignments were confusing, and she rarely told me any of the details other than what I needed to do, but I trusted her, and she was genuinely interested in helping me find my siblings. I seriously hoped she was alright.

My eyes fluttered open and I looked around. It was night time; I was lying in the middle of the ocean under a moonlit sky. My whole body ached and my arms were covered in bruises and scrape. I was soaked in saltwater; my black hair fell over my eyes. I brushed it away to get a better view of my surroundings. I could see a pier in the distance, and a town built around it. The presence of civilization relieved me more than you could imagine, I didn't want to wake up on abandoned island by myself.

I sat up and started to feel sick, my head was throbbing viciously. I put my hand on my head, feeling a pretty deep cut on my forehead. I started to realize that I was hurt way worse than I first thought, but if I could walk I would be fine for the time being. I stood up and looked down at my jeans which were shredded around the ankles. I wasn't wearing socks; my feet were freezing in my waterlogged shoes. I look down putting one foot in front of the other. My balance was fine after a couple of shaky steps and I headed towards the shore.

The tide lapped at my ankles as I reached the beach. A cold wind blew and I shivered, wishing I had more on than just my black sweater. I could hear the sound of people talking far off, back in the water, but I didn't think much of it, it was probably just the wind. Well maybe not, the wind had died down but the voices were still there, so I turned around and look hard into the distance. I could make out two shadowy figures over by a rock sticking out of the water. They were a ways down the beach so I turned towards them and start walking.

The wind hadn't died down and as I started down towards the beach, I began to question myself. Why was I going back in the water, I should be looking for shelter. After all I had no idea who those people were, for all I knew they could be enemies of VFD, looking to kill me and steal my fortune. That is if Esme Squalor hadn't stolen it already. But, if they were in the ocean with me, they probably came from the same place I had. I wasn't sure whether or not that was a good thing, but I kept going down the beach. The people saw me and stopped moving, and were huddled together. It creeped me out knowing they were watching me. As I came closer to the water my foot landed on flashlight. It caught me off guard, but I was lucky to find it. I picked it up off the dirty beach, as a gust of cold wind howled through the trees in the distance. Raindrops began to fall as I picked up the flashlight; it was heavy and black, with a gold ring around the lens. More importantly though it worked. I shined the flashlight on the mysterious people, but when I saw their faces I froze.

A boy and a girl jumped back as the light hit them. They had black hair and wide eyes, wearing thick waterlogged wool sweaters. They looked a lot alike, no they looked exactly alike, they looked exactly like me. Standing before me were Duncan and Isadora Quagmire, my two long lost siblings, who I had been scared I would never see again.

"Who are you" Duncan stammered.

"Are you a ghost?" Isadora asked, and it took aback. Of course I wasn't a ghost, but they didn't know that. How could I explain to them that I never died, that I've in fact been alive this whole time, wandering the country performing secret errands for an organization I didn't even know anything about? I tell them the truth I guess.

"It's me, Quigley" I said, not sure what I was going to say next. "I know you thought I was dead, but I'm not dead, I'm alive, and I'm not a ghost." I took a few steps forward, and hesitantly, they approached me. I was at a loss for words, not knowing what to say I reached my hand out to them, hoping they wouldn't run away. Isadora took my hand in hers, and looked me straight in the eye for a moment that seems like forever until suddenly, I heard her scream.

"Quigley!" she yelled, throwing her arms around my neck, pulling me tightly into a hug. I squeezed her back, momentarily lifting her up in the air before dropping her back down; welcoming Duncan into our group hug. Overcome with joy, we stood there, hugging, laughing, and feeling like a real family again.

"What happened to us" Duncan says with a small laugh after we can all calm down. They looked bad, really bad, and I could see in my reflection on the water how bad I looked as well.

"I don't know" I said. "What's the last thing you remember?" I asked.

"We were floating in a self-sustaining hot air balloon home." Isadora replied "Surrounded by eagles that were attacking the balloons" she said with a shudder.

"I remember seeing a helicopter approaching in the distance" Duncan continued. "We were afraid that we were going to crash, so I was trying to signal at the helicopter for help, but I don't remember anything past that." A lightning flash in the sky caught our attention, followed by a booming thunder roll that sounded like a cannon blast. As soon as the echo rang out, it began pouring, instantly the water was covered in ripples as we were soaked by the torrential downpour.

"Let's get out of here" Isadora said, brushing her hair out of her eyes, and none of us needed to be told twice. Together, we walked towards shore as a family. Even though we had no money, no place to stay, no idea where we even were, that night was one of the happiest nights of my life. When I looked over at them I could see them smiling too, and it felt like all of our troubles were gone. I thought back to when we were younger, when our parents would tell us that if we ever were separated from them, we had to stick together. We hadn't done that ever since the fire and it always hurt to know that I was letting my parents down by not following through with their best advice. But now things were different. Now things will change.

At least, I can only hope so.

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**What do you think? Next chapter will be up in a few days.**


	2. Ode to Joy

Chapter 2:

After wandering through the beachside town aimlessly looking for a place to stay, we found shelter in a home for runaway youth. The shelter was built in the basement of a Catholic church, designed as a makeshift home for kids who had nowhere else to stay. They took us in for the night, giving us warm clothes and a bed to sleep in. We didn't sleep much that night; we had too much catching up to do. I told them all about how Mom saved me from the blaze, about the secret tunnels underneath our old home. I heard about their time at Prufrock Prep, being captured by Count Olaf, and how they wound up on a hot air balloon mobile home floating in the sky. We shared the few secrets we knew about VFD, and of course we talked about the Baudelaires, who had helped us all make it through the trying days after the fire. We laughed about our happier childhood memories, we cried about the destruction of our home and family, until early in the morning when we all fell asleep, feeling as if no time had passed at all.

My eyes slowly opened to the room we were in. I was lying on the carpet of the small room we had in the shelter. Sunlight beamed through the shades; I guessed that it was around noon. I pushed myself up from the ground, and saw Isadora eating a banana on the bed.

"Morning Quigley" she said with a smile.

"Hey Izzy" I said, climbing up and sitting on the chair next to the bed. She handed me a basket of fruit, and I grabbed one of the oranges, eager to get some food in my stomach. I didn't realize it before, but I was really hungry.

"I found some water" Duncan said, coming into the room with a gallon of water and some cups. "Hey Quigley you're up sleepyhead" he says handing me a cup of water.

"Thanks buddy" I said with a chuckle, taking the water from his hand. Above us a group of people were singing Ode to Joy, the relative lack of pitch made me think that there was a service going on above us. As we ate our breakfast, we tried to figure out what we should do next. We had no money, so we couldn't easily find another place to stay. I suggested trying to find Kit or another volunteer to take care of us, but we didn't know who to call, or how to get in touch with them. The foster care system was always an option, but no one would take in three teenage orphans on a whim. We'd have to be separated, and that wouldn't happen. Not again, after all we had been through.

"If only we had a safe place to go" Isadora lamented "we could starting piecing our lives back together. The shelter works for now, but we can't stay here forever. It's not a real home."

"If we had money we could find our own place to stay." Duncan suggested. Obviously we had a large fortune that we were waiting to claim, but we had no access to it until we turned eighteen. Esme Squalor also had control of it, so any chance we had at bending the rules was gone.

"We could make our own money" I said. "If the three of us get jobs, we could find a small apartment to rent out until we become of age." It was a plan, but it wasn't a great plan. Finding jobs would be tough, and so would be feeding and housing ourselves on minimum wage. Duncan brought up something about how in some states people under eighteen couldn't legally sign a lease, and we moved on.

"What about our old beach house?" Duncan suggested, his face lighting up at the idea. Our parents owned a summer home out west in a place called Lake Crimson. When we were younger we would go up there on the weekends and spend all day playing on the beach. It was from exploring the woods around our house with my dad that I developed my interest in cartography. As we all reminisced on all the good memories we had there, I realized why our parents used to call it a sanctuary. We came to a pretty quick agreement that we should move back there, where we could live for free, finish school, and move on with our lives. It was the perfect plan.

"But how will we get there?" Isadora asked. No one answered. We thought for a while, but after failing to come up with a good idea, we gave up. Once the music stopped playing, we decided to go upstairs, for lack of anything better to do. We climbed up the stairs, and walked into a magnificent church. The stained glass windows gave the room a nice color, while the marble altar and golden candles held the attention at the front of the room. In front of the altar stood the priest, a middle aged man with olive skin, his hair balding yet still very much black.

"Excellent sermon father" an elderly woman said to him before walking off with her husband. Once they left we approached him, as we came closer he turned to us and smiled.

"Welcome to my church children, I am Father Domingo" he said, shaking our hands.

"Hello father" I replied, "my name is Quigley Quagmire, these are my siblings, Duncan and Isadora."

"Thank you very much for giving us a place to spend the night" Isadora said to him.

"Anytime children, it's all God's work" he said. "I do believe though, that I've met you're parents before. How are they doing?"

"They're dead." Isadora said sadly. "That's actually why we came here; ever since they passed away we've had trouble finding safe places to stay."

"I didn't realize this was a sad occasion" he said, taking me by surprise. 'Why was he using a VFD code?' I wondered. If he was a member of VFD, what side was he on, and did he know where Kit was?

"The world is quiet here" I said in response, not knowing whether or not my siblings knew about the code. That response is used to identify yourself as another volunteer, but only in a safe place where it is safe to talk openly. Since everyone else had already left, I figured it was safe.

"I'm glad you came here, our organization needs your help" Father Domingo said. "Recently our members have been accused of a variety of heinous crimes; around here we have been forced into hiding to protect ourselves. I myself am confined to the church unless I am going somewhere with the bishop, as I am about to once we're finished. In my spare time I have kept busy with research, and have been building up evidence that can be used to clear our names."

He reached under the altar and pulled out a small black box, with gold trimming and a shiny lock. "In here are my files" he said. "I need the three of you to deliver this to a lawyer I know, from there she can build our case." Duncan took the box, tugged on it but realized it was locked and stopped, as the priest sighed and reached into his robe, pulling out a small piece of paper.

"Here is a map that will lead you to your destination" he said handing me the map. The others looked skeptical, but I had grown used to this kind of treatment from the volunteers beforehand. They were always very hesitant to give out details about their errands, yet we always were expected to perform them without question. Maybe it was just my age at the time, or maybe their secrets really were too terrible to share with anyone, but I wanted answers. I wanted to know why our parents were killed, why everything is done in codes, why the schism really occurred, and most importantly, how my family and I could live safely.

"What's in it for us?" I asked. Father Domingo was surprised, but we were homeless and penniless, if we were going to do anything we deserved something in return.

"Look" he said after a long sigh "this is against our policy, but you kids need help, and it's my duty as a man of God to help you. I have arranged for you to be paid for this errand. When you reach my lawyers home, she will give you your money. It will be enough to help you three get back home." Without another word he left us alone the church.

"Well what are we waiting for" Duncan said. "We run this errand, and buy ourselves three train tickets to Lake Crimson"

"Good enough for me" I said with a smile.


	3. Here's Your Payment

******Time for chapter three. I had two chapters that weren't really all that great on their own, so I glued them together for this one. Not terribly thrilled about it but the next one will be much better. **

**TayTheFan: So just to clarify, the story right now is taking place in the dead time after The End but before Chapter 14. So the Baudelaires and Beatrice are still on the island, the Quagmires are back on the mainland. Why hasn't he thought of Violet... I'm not sure really, I hadn't thought about that. I'll go over it in a later chapter.**

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Chapter 3: 

"This is it" I said.

We stood in front of a large brick apartment building, with a green wooden door. I led us here using the map I got from Father Domingo. The apartments at 233 Blueberry Street were marked by a coffee stain, another code used by VFD to mark important locations. Inside there was a list of tenants on the wall, a woman named Sarah Jones was listed on the fourth floor. Up three flights of stairs to the room on the left, and we would be there. Simple enough.

"What kind of evidence do you think is in the box?" Isadora asked as we climbed the stairs. "It seems strange that he would give us this errand without telling us anything about it." She had a point, it was strange considering that it was safe for us to talk.

"It's not unusual for them to withhold information" I reasoned. "When I was working with Kit, we would often get these weird errands at odd hours of the night, but I would never get any sort of explanation as to why we were doing them."

"I don't know" Isadora said, shivering, even though the apartment was quite warm. "Something about this doesn't seem quite right."

"Do you think we should back out?" I asked.

"No I don't" Isadora quickly replied. "I just… I just think we should be careful with this VFD stuff. It's dangerous, and I don't want any of us getting hurt."

We arrived on the fourth floor; room nineteen was on the left. We came up to another green wooden door, the number 19 nailed in gold lettering to the top. I took a deep breath, and knocked on the door.

"Come in" a woman's voice yells from inside.

"Now remember, we don't leave without the money" Duncan said. We all nodded in agreement, and pushed the door open. The inside was very elegant, with fancy white furniture surrounding a glass coffee table, facing a television on the wall. We walked through the parlor into a spacious office. Inside a woman sat with her feet up on a large desk, dressed in a black blazer with a white shirt underneath. The walls were lined with books; I could tell she must be very well read. Now that didn't guarantee anything, but I knew from experience that well-read people were less likely to be evil than those who weren't. That was something at least.

"Father Domingo must have sent you" the woman said. Without making small talk, she reached her hand out for the box in Isadora's hands. She handed it to her, and without another word, the lawyer pulled an envelope out from under the desk.

"Here's your payment" she said, handing us the money in return for the box. Duncan took the envelope from her hands, while Isadora and I leaned over to see what was inside. He pulled out a roll of bills, and began to flip through them. There were about twenty bills in the envelope, but to our dismay they were all ones. Twenty dollars wouldn't get us to Lake Crimson, not even one of us. I wanted to complain. I didn't get the chance though before I was grabbed from behind and tackled to the ground.

"Oof" I yelled, the shock of the blow outweighing the physical pain. I tried to get up, but a strong force pressing on my back kept me on my stomach.

"Let me go" I heard Duncan yelling, but to no avail.

"The three of you are under arrest for Class A narcotics trafficking" a deep man's voice said to my side, I turned my head to see a large police officer with a gray mustache staring down at me. My arms were pinned behind me, and I could feel the cold steel clenching my wrists as I was handcuffed.

"Stop resisting" another officer yelled, and I could hear Isadora screaming as I was jerked up to my feet. She was squirming underneath two officers, trying to get away, but to no avail as she was cuffed as well. Mrs. Jones opened up the box with a golden key, and another female cop with latex gloves on slowly pulled out a bag filled with black powder.

"Looks like pure black tar heroin" the lawyer said, shining a flashlight on the bag. "Probably about eight grams, fetch about 20 grand on the street."

"WHAT!" Duncan yelled as he was dragged up to his feet as well.

"Listen to me" I pleaded as the cops checked my pockets for weapons. "We're not drug dealers, we had no idea what was in the box. We were just running an errand, for a priest I swear." I look at my siblings, and I can see the horrified look on their faces, pleading for help. "It was Father Domingo, the priest from the church by the beach."

"Father Domingo!" the officer who held me said laughing. "I think you've said enough." Without another word we were shoved out of the apartment, surrounded by cops and barking dogs nipping at our ankles. Isadora was right; we should have been concerned when we were given a random task from a stranger with no explanation.

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CLANG!

The cop shut the door as hard as he could. We had fingerprinted and interviewed by police all day, until they finally placed us in a holding cell. I was sitting on the bottom bunk with my brother and sister, locked up and thinking only about how I could get out as soon as possible.

"This isn't legal" Duncan said exasperatedly as he sat down on the bed. "We got framed; they can't do this to us. They haven't even given us our phone call."

"Who would we call" I said, frustrated as I sat down as well. "Who on earth did you plan on calling?"

"Anyone!" Duncan yelled. "At least I'm trying to think of a way out of here, what's your plan smartass?"

"Oh I'm sorry" I said, getting up and getting angry, approaching him. "Do you think I want to be here, do you think I planned this whole thing out?" I yelled.

"This whole thing was your idea in the first place, if it weren't for you we would never have gotten arrested" Duncan shouted, shoving me back against the barred door. This set me off. I clenched my fists and ran at him, ready to punch his face in.

"STOP!" Isadora shrieked. She jumped in between me and Duncan just before I was going to swing. "We're all fighting over nothing" she said quivering, and I could see her eyes filling up with tears.

"Don't cry Izzy" I said, putting my hand on her shoulder trying to comfort her in any way I could.

"It's gonna be alright" Duncan said sitting down on the other side of the bed. "Once we explain what really happened they'll let us go free. We just have to make our case to the judge." Well he didn't know that, what would he say if that never happened. I glared angrily at him, but decided not to say anything. It wasn't worth fighting over. Truth is I was scared out of my mind. I had never been arrested or captured before, and being trapped in a cage frightened me more than I can explain. I sighed, leaning back against the wall. We all had to stay strong; I couldn't let them see me cry.

So three days passed and nothing happened besides getting our three meals a day delivered to our cell. We didn't hear anything about the charges that were undoubtedly being filed against us, or when we would be going to court. We didn't even get a phone call to post bail. Duncan and I had patched up our fight, but you could still cut the tension with a knife as we waited for our fate to be determined.

"And then the orphans were all like 'please don't arrest us'" I heard a voice say, accompanied by villainous laughter. Instantly I grabbed the bars of the cell, poking my head out to get a glimpse at who was probably talking about us. An obnoxious cop was still laughing as he walked closer to our cell, accompanied by two other cops and a woman with… shit with hair but no beard.

"No" I breathed as my siblings came up next to me to see what I was looking at. Her aura of menace made us all freeze as we stared at her.

"Here they are, your new prisoners" the obnoxious cop said to the woman. "These are the orphans you were looking for right."

"No" the woman said, after looking at us for a while "but that's ok, they'll do."

"What are you talking about!" Duncan shouted, only to be shoved back by one of the bigger cops, as everyone outside the cell started laughing at us.

"Stop it!" Isadora screamed, tears filling up her eyes again as everyone only laughed harder. I gritted my teeth clenching the bars, trying to avoid lashing out despite my immense hatred for them.

"Look how much they resist, it's so pathetic! Please tell me we get to torture them" the obnoxious cop said laughing still even though everyone else had calmed down.

"No" said the woman with hair but no beard as she looked down at her fingernails. "Take them to Mansfield like we do with all of the other orphans, we'll keep them there until they turn eighteen. Once we have their money I'll decide what to do next." Without another word she left the room, leaving us with the three visibly disappointed cops.

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**Thanks for reading everyone. Next one might take a little while to get up, but it'll be worth it.**


	4. A Series of Unfortunate Events

**Sorry this one took so long to get up. I like it though, I think you will too.**

**The Spectrum Sings: Thanks for the advice, it helped me write this one out a little better.**

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Mansfield Reformatory was a juvenile detention center on the outskirts of the state. Thanks to the woman with hair but no beard, it was now our new home. Corruption in the system allowed her to keep orphans like us there without a trial or a conviction, allowing them to hold us prisoner until we came of age and they could steal our fortunes. As for life in Mansfield, well it was about as miserable as you would expect. Duncan and I shared a cell, which we were stuck in for most of the day. There was a girls side and a boys side, with separate yards where we ate meals and even made a couple friends. The best part about Mansfield was the library. Not because the books were particularly great, but because the boys and girls could intermingle there, giving us our only way to stay in touch with Isadora.

"Wanna play rummy?" asked Francois, one of the friends we made in Mansfield. He stood about six foot five, and he must have weighed at least 250 pounds. He had dark black skin, a shaved head, and wore his jumpsuits with the sleeves ripped off, showing off his big arms. Despite his intimidating appearance he was one of the funniest people I knew, a goofy kid who could make a joke about anything. The only thing you couldn't talk to Francois about was his family, which we wouldn't talk about, ever.

"Hell yeah Frenchy, deal me in" Rico said, our other friend in Mansfield. Rico and Francois were cellmates and best friends, but whereas Francois was massive, Rico was tiny, a scrawny little kid with olive skin and long shaggy hair, who wore jumpsuits that looked two sizes too big. Rico had a chip on his shoulder and an endless supply of conversation, or at least of things to say. The two of them were also volunteers with VFD, and while they made a strange pair, the two of them were the most trustworthy people we had. We played the game for a while in prison yard before shouting from across the yard caught Rico's attention.

"Yo guys there's a fight about to start" Rico said excitedly, jumping up from the table and running over to a crowd of people forming on the other side of the yard. Francois slowly pushed himself up from the table to join him, and Duncan and I soon followed. I know, dropping everything to watch kids fight is pretty immature, but we were bored and needed some sort of entermainment.

"You got a problem with me four eyes?" I heard a voice shout from the center of the circle. By now most of the prisoners had gathered around to watch the fight, and I had to push through the group to get a view of the fight.

"What's you problem?" another voice said as I got to the front.

"Oh you're never gonna look at me like that again once I'm done with you, the first guy said. His name was Sid, a violent kid who loved picking on anyone who was smaller than him. The poor guy on the other end was a little bit smaller than me, with dark hair and big glasses. 'Poor kid doesn't stand a chance' I thought as Sid shoved him to the ground before he got a chance to say anything, much to the excitement of the crowd, who started cheering at the sudden onset of violence.

"That's Klaus!" Duncan yelled "we have to help him!" Instantly I recognized him, and I quickly followed Duncan, who had already ran into the circle. As the crowd was chanting for a fight Duncan ran up right behind Sid and punched him in the side of the face. Sid grabbed his face in pain, now it was my turn to strike. Before Sid got a chance to retaliate I charged into him, tackling him to the ground like a football player.

"I'm gonna kill you rat!" Sid yelled at me, violently thrashing beneath me as I knelt on top of him trying to pin his arms to the ground. The crowd was screaming in excitement, begging for more violence.

"Quigley look out!" Duncan screamed, and I turned my head just in time to see one of Sid's buddies coming at me, looking straight into my eyes with his right arm wound up and clenched into a fist. With no time to defend myself I flinched, turning my head to the side and raising my arm to defend my face, anticipating the blow that was sure to follow. The blow never came. I turned my head to see Sid's friend dangling in the air, thrashing his arms and legs as Francois held him up in the air. I looked around witnessing the mayhem around me. I still had Sid underneath me, who was staring at Francois in fear, as Duncan and Rico held back another one of Sid's goons.

The fight was over and everyone scattered as Francois dropped the kid to the ground, effectively breaking up the fight. Relieved, I got up and walked over to Klaus, who was sitting on the ground dusting off his glasses.

"Need a hand buddy?" I asked him smiling.

"It's good to see you again Quigley" he replied, taking my hand as I pulled him up to his feet. I embraced my long lost friend, a moment which felt so surreal, almost too good to be true.

"Are your siblings here as well?" Duncan asked as he ran over to greet him.

"Violet and Sunny are here, but they're being held on the other side" he said "where's Isadora?"

"Isadora is on the other side too" I said "with Violet and..." but I didn't finish my sentence. 'Violet is here' I thought 'I'm going to get to see Violet again!' My mind flashed back to the kiss we shared on top of Mount Fraught, the happiest moment I had since my parents died, possibly the happiest of my whole life.

"Alright lunchtimes over for you, back to your cells" a guard yelled, interrupting my daydream. There were four of them, putting Sid, Klaus, Duncan and I into handcuffs.

"Meet us in the library after dinner" I yell to Klaus as I'm pushed down a corridor leading to the cells. "We have a lot to talk about."

I laid down on the cot in my cell, my mind completely preoccupied by Violet Baudelaire. I had crushes before, but this was so much different. The way she tied her hair up while thinking up her inventions, the way she stood up to Count Olaf and those dastardly villains on top of Mount Fraught, the way she carried herself with such beauty, such grace, was just so much different than anyone else I had ever met.

I remember pulling away from her lips on top of that waterfall, the first time I'd ever kissed anyone. I felt so warm, like it was a summer day, even as freezing winds cut across my face. That's when I knew I was in love. I wish I said it then, but after that kiss we just kind of awkwardly laughed and decided to start climbing again. After losing her down the Stricken Stream it tortured me not knowing where she was, not knowing if she truly did love me. Something about what happened before I washed up on the beach calmed those feelings; lessened their intensity so I wasn't so preoccupied with her. Now that I knew she was here they came back, and they felt good.

We were let out of our cell for dinner. Klaus sat with us as we plowed through taco night as quickly as we could before going up to the library.

"So Violet and Sunny are going to be there too?" Klaus asked

"I hope so" I said "Isadora should have told them." Of course I didn't actually know that, in reality a whole number of things could have gone very wrong. I had been waiting all day to see her, in reality I had been waiting for quite a while longer, and I cringed knowing there was a very good chance I'd have to keep waiting. I flung the library doors open, scanning above the metal carts turned bookshelves to find where they were sitting. Our normal spot in the back right corner was empty, no sign of anyone in the other corner either.

"Izzy… Violet…" I called, scanning all around the room for them. I had seen this coming, part of me knew that it wasn't going to happen, and I felt stupid for dreaming about something that was never going to...

"Quigley" a voice says, interrupting my thoughts. I look forward and see Violet standing right in front of me, holding Sunny in her arms with Isadora by her side. She looked tired and distraught, but damn, even in a prison jumpsuit she was beautiful. She ran forward and embraced me, her tears pressing through my shirt as I held her tight. It wasn't how I wanted it to happen, but for the first time since our arrest I forgot I was even in jail.

"I thought I would never see you again" she said to me as the tears stopped falling. We pulled apart and I bent down to hug Sunny, who had grown significantly since I last saw her. I looked up to see Klaus and Isadora holding each other in the same way that Violet and I just did. It felt natural for us to be together, it felt like we were all one big reunited family.

"We're going to need a few more seats" Duncan said, pulling over a couple more chairs to the table. "And how did they get away with bringing Sunny here, she's too young to be in jail!"

"I'm doing fine" Sunny said, as Violet reached down to pick her up.

"Of course she's doing fine" I said "Sunny's the toughest one out of all of us." and everyone laughed. Sunny blushed at this comment, but it was true, I'd seen her survive by herself up on top of Mount Fraught surrounded by Count Olaf and his disgusting henchmen.

"So what happened to you?" Klaus asked as we all sat down "How did you survive The Great Unknown?"

"The what?" Duncan replied.

"Truth is we don't really remember much of what happened to us after we came down from Hector's hot air balloon home" Isadora continued. "All we really remember is waking up on a beach in the middle of the night, where we met Quigley."

"After that, we found shelter in the basement of a church, where we met a priest who claimed to be a member of VFD" I continued. "He asked us to run an errand for him to help him clear his name, but it turned out all he did was set us up in a sting. We got arrested for drug possession, and we've been here ever since."

"Did you ever go to court?" Violet asked.

"No" Duncan answered bitterly. "The woman with hair but no beard had us sent straight here. She told us that we'd be kept here until we turned eighteen and they could steal our fortunes. There are more orphans here like us who they are doing the exact same thing to."

"Oh my god" Sunny said, as the Baudelaires shuddered at the realization of what was actually happening to them.

"What happened to you though?" Isadora asked them. "Maybe you can help us answer our own questions."

"We washed up on a beach, like you" Sunny said. "Kit picked us up in a taxi, and brought us to Hotel Denouement."

"Kit!" I said in excitement. "Is she alright?" No one answered; the Baudelaires just put their heads down as the mood became much darker.

"We didn't see Kit after she dropped us off at Hotel Denouement" Violet said. "She left us there while she went to help with a situation at Anwhistle aquatics. She told us that she helped you steal a helicopter to rescue your siblings, who were being attacked by VFD eagles."

"So that's what the helicopter that I saw in the distance was" Duncan said.

"We must have all fell out of the sky, and that explains how we all wound up on the beach together" Isadora said as well.

"Well there's more to it" said Klaus. "After the Hotel Denouement burned down, we washed up on an island in the middle of the sea. Kit floated to the island on a raft made of books. She told us that she had escaped from The Great Unknown on that raft, while you three were sucked into The Great Unknown. Somehow you must have escaped, and washed up on the beach from there."

"Wow" I said, shocked by the confusing and downright scary series of events that I couldn't even remember. "So what happened to Kit?" I asked. Once again, nobody responded for a while.

"Kit was hurt, very badly" Sunny finally said. "We were all alone with her when she went into labor" Sunny's eyes began filling up with tears, as Violet leaned over to comfort her. "Kit died" she choked out "after giving birth." I looked at him stunned, unable to speak, unable to react.

"Is her child alright, at least?" Isadora asked, her eyes filling up with tears as well.

"A year passed before we left the island" Klaus said. "We took our old boat out, but it crashed and sank in a storm like the one that brought us to the island in the first place." We swam to shore and wound up once again on Briny Beach." He stopped and sighed, gathering composure before finishing his statement. "With nowhere else to turn, we went to go find Mr. Poe. We never even saw him, when we got to his bank we were arrested on the spot. We told Kit before she died that we'd take care of her child, but when they took us to jail, they took her from us as well. We have no idea what happened to her."

For a while we could only sit there, too saddened by the series of unfortunate events that brought us to Mansfield to speak. I bit my lip, fighting back tears as I clenched my fists in anger. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, locked up for crimes we didn't commit, waiting for the villains on the other side of VFD to put us out of our misery. Violet hugged Sunny, and Klaus and Isadora held each other. I turned to Duncan, who looked at me, fighting back tears as well.

"It can't end like this" he said, "we have to do something." He was right, what if we were all killed on our eighteenth birthday, our lives holding no meaning other than the fortunes stolen from us? What if the last moment I spent with Violet was spent in the library of Mansfield Reformatory? Something had to be done.

"When you were in jail in the Village of Fowl Devotees" I whispered so that nobody else would hear me, "how did you escape?"

"It was an invention I made" Violet said, "using bread and water to dissolve the mortar holding the bricks together. But the walls here are made of concrete, and we don't get any bread in our cell."

"I had read something a long time ago about a group of Frenchmen who had escaped from prison by impersonating the guards" Klaus continued, but I have no idea how we could do that." It was a longshot, but it also gave us a spark, a chance to escape from the horrible fate awaiting us.

"Klaus" Duncan said under his breath as we all leaned in even closer, "What other books have you read about prison escape?"

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